No respect for Bears

Posted on: October 2, 2010 3:01 pm

First off, while their performance in Green Bay was far from ideal, the Bears won the game in what I feel was a fairly convincing manner. Many people seem to be suggesting that the Packers "lost" that game rather than that the Bears "won." While I agree that Green Bay didn't play to the best of their ability and made some key mistakes, thats what happens in football. You could probably make a case for almost any close loss to comedown to mistakes on the losing side. I understand the Bears' reputation, and I realize that makes it alot easier to refrain from giving credit when it's due, but I would encourage the dubious to look a little closer at how the Bears won this game.

Myth: The Bears barely skated by in a 3 point victory The Bears, down 10-0 in the 1st quarter, with Cutler already sacked 3 times and having thrown 1 int, rallied to outscore the Packers 20-7 for the rest of the game. Cutler (playing without stariting LT Chris Williams ) would not be sacked after the first minute of the 2nd quarter, nor would he throw any more ints (I'll cover the pseudo-picks later). The Packers had the ball 10 times, the Bears 9. If you disregard Rodger's Hail Mary interception drive, as well as the lateral-laden last play of the game, the Packers had 8 "real" possesions. While they certainly outplayed the Bears early, the Pack's 5 "real" drives after gaining a 10-0 lead look like this compared to the last 5 times the Bears had the ball (Disregarding the Hail Mary possesion and the last play of the game):

I'm not saying the Bears dominated, I just think that the Bears are not being credited nearly enough. Chicago dominated on special teams. Their defense was solid and forced a decisive takeaway.The offense was a little shaky early but ended the half strong and came through on crucial game-tying and game-winning drives.

Myth: The Bears got lucky, and won, thanks to crucial Packer mistakes It has been suggested that missed opportunities, such as the touchdown called back for holding, the blocked field goal, and the fumble in the 4th quarter are why the Bears won. I would somewhat agree. What isn't as mentioned is a dropped 4th and goal touchdown by the Bears and Gould's missed 49 yarder (long, but makeable.) If a Packer fan can say they'd have won without that holding call is like saying the Bears would have won big had Dez Clark not dropped a touchdown. Both teams failed to convert crucial touchdowns due to mistakes by single members of personnel. Green Bay was as "lucky" that the pass was dropped as Chicago was "lucky" that Peppers drew a hold. These, to me, seem to offset, as do the missed and blocked field goals. If anything, the Bears' missed kick and dropped touchdown were the unforced errors (Gould's kick was wide right and Dez let it slip through his hands), whereas the Packers' aforementioned holding call and block kick were at least forced (both by Peppers, man is a beast). The logic that says the Packers almost won 24-20, also co``uld say the Bears almost won 27-17. The 4th quarter fumble was forced by future Hall-of-Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher , and if that was pure luck then you can pretty much call any decisive play in football (or in sports) luck.

Myth:Jay Cutler performed poorely, and should have thrown a few ints This is not a Jay Cutler vs. Aaron Rodgers debate. At this point in his career Rodgers is better. He's actually quite amazing and impressive. Packer fans have alot to be excited for. That's not to take away from Jay Cutler. Yes, he's a gunslinger. But anybody who has watched the Bears this year (or even just the last game) has to agree that the man is a warrior. Watch the last two first quarters for the Bears. He has gotten absolutley lit up. But he has hung tough the rest of the game, both times overcoming an early deficit to win the game against speculated contenders. Anyone who can't see positive change with Cutler in this Martz system isn't watching closely. Cutler's first int, on the 2nd drive of the game, was inexcusable.. I haven't yet figured out whether it was miscommunication or just a (massively) errant throw. But the "non-picks"? Both ints that were reversed due to penalties were the right call by the referees, and both times the penalties clearly caused the interceptions. Helmet to helmet contact as Cutler throws, and blatant pass interference, were obviously the reason for said "non-picks", yes the second was a little underthrown, but I don't see that as a pick if there isn't prison yard football going on in the secondary. As far as dropped ints I didn't see any sure-fire interceptions dropped, though if I missed that I apologize. Green Bay is credited with 3 pass deflections to the Bears' 4.

Phew thats enough for now, I'd love to discuss and debate any points though so feel free. Also I know this was fairly light on statistical analysis, and humor, but I really needed to get this off my chest before working on more unbiased (I'm from Chicago) blog entries.

No respect for Bears

No respect for Bears

The Bears and Cutler looked real convincing with that 3-0 record against the Giants. Just sayin'

Since: May 30, 2008

Posted on: October 3, 2010 12:45 pm

No respect for Bears

Dude the Packers set a franchise record for most penalties in a game, the Packers and ONLY the Packers lost that game. The Bears did not beat the Packers, the Packers beat the Packers.

"Let's see... Rodgers throws a TD to Finley that was called back due to holding. Two plays later, blocked FG." So? Cutler throws a TD that was called back due to fingertips, it seems to me both this rule (down by contact) and your rule (holding) were legit. Both touchdowns were called back because they WEREN'T touchdowns, meaning as defined in the NFL rulebook (also, Calvin Johnson's). A couple plays after Chicago's called back touchdown, Clark dropped a sure-fire touchdown. We both gave away touchdowns, dude.

"Then Nick Collins picks off Cutler and it's PI even though Collins would've been there to make the play regardless of PI or not." I think having a reciever make a play on the ball would have gone a long way.

"Then Nick Barnett picks off Cutler and it's a helmet-to-helmet hit, even though if he was hit ANYWHERE on that play he still throws the INT." I completely disagree, I felt like the hit to the helmet affected the throw much more substantially. The fact the throw sailed like that on Cutler is testament to his head being hit upwards. Any lower and he probably directs the throw more down. Now do you see how ridiculous it looks to second-guess minute behaviors after changing variables?

The fumble at the end was wayyy more of James Jones thinking the play was over and though he was really close to out of bounds and not paying attention than it was the Bears making a play. Then get recievers who protect the football, but certainly don't take away from key takeaways. Obviously, you never played football or you'd understand.

"The Bears are the most overrated team in the league, even with all the gifts the Packers handed to them, including a punt return.... THEY ONLY WON BY 3! Enjoy first place while it lasts.... because it won't be long."

Dude, Bears outscored Packers 20-7 after losing early on, and kicked Green Bay's ass on special teams. On the other hand our defenses played similarly and Green Bay had a slight edge on offense.

I'd encourage anyone who gets into this finicky <blank> gave away the game, <blank> didn't deserve to win, to consult someone who plays football/watches alot of football. Fact is, you can over-simplify any game if you really want too.

Since: Sep 7, 2006

Posted on: October 3, 2010 10:36 am

No respect for Bears

not every bears fan thinks cutler is better than rodgers-personally it's not even close. Oh and on the helmet to helmet penalty-the ball was underthrown and picked off due to the hit-cutler wasnt able to follow through....any qb in the league throws that pick taking that type of hit.

Since: Sep 4, 2010

Posted on: October 3, 2010 10:33 am

No respect for Bears

For all of you compaining about the Bears record, wahwahwahwahwah. All that matters is wins and losses, not how you got there. And the Bears have 3 W's at the moment

Do you think the Jets actually beat the Peyton-less Colts last year? They did, it counted and it got them to the playoffs. I didn't hear anyone complaining about taking it away from them because Peyton wasn't playing.

If we are going to start taking W's away from teams because we feel they didn't play good enough to win (and whose opinion would we be using), then lets just scratch the whole season right now. Why bother playing.

Since: Aug 19, 2010

Posted on: October 3, 2010 3:36 am

No respect for Bears

Dude the Packers set a franchise record for most penalties in a game, the Packers and ONLY the Packers lost that game. The Bears did not beat the Packers, the Packers beat the Packers.

Let's see... Rodgers throws a TD to Finley that was called back due to holding. Two plays later, blocked FG.

Then Nick Barnett picks off Cutler and it's a helmet-to-helmet hit, even though if he was hit ANYWHERE on that play he still throws the INT.

Then Nick Collins picks off Cutler and it's PI even though Collins would've been there to make the play regardless of PI or not.

The fumble at the end was wayyy more of James Jones thinking the play was over and though he was really close to out of bounds and not paying attention than it was the Bears making a play.

The Bears are the most overrated team in the league, even with all the gifts the Packers handed to them, including a punt return.... THEY ONLY WON BY 3! Enjoy first place while it lasts.... because it won't be long.

Since: Aug 19, 2006

Posted on: October 3, 2010 3:28 am

No respect for Bears

Ref's gave them the win vs the Lions, Cowboys where playing awful, Packers gave them the game to RIDICULOUS levels including most penalties in a game for a team founded 90 years ago...

There's lots of reasons to not by into it..

Since: Jun 4, 2010

Posted on: October 3, 2010 2:58 am

No respect for Bears

The Bears and the Packers are both above average football teams, just not that far above average. Yes, they are good enough to win games against lesser opponents, and even make a run at the playoffs. Unfortunately, the problem with the Bears and Packers is that once either team meets one of the league's elite, they don't produce.You can sit here and debate the semantics of a game all day, I would suggest that Chicago and Green Bay fans just wait until January to debate Aaron Rogers and Jay Cutler, as well as the two small, fast defenses that get pushed around by the big dogs. By January, Bears and Packers fans will have plenty of time to debate without having to worry about watching their teams play football.

Since: Dec 20, 2009

Posted on: October 3, 2010 1:51 am

No respect for Bears

LOL......coming from a raider fan...too funny...you know you're full of it. and so does EVERYONE ELSE!!!!!!!